What family is the photographer?

I have nothing to do on Sunday, and I found the godfather's killing time. I didn't watch the whole film, but I watched the first scene twice.

Then I still gasp in admiration. If there really is the best movie in history, it is absolutely inevitable.

An epic film like The Godfather has a huge story structure, complex characters and numerous plot starting points, which needs to be established in the first act to lay a solid foundation for the later narrative. Pursuing infinite space in this limited time, I think, as long as all relevant contents can be put in without being bloated, it is already quite a realm; It can also be sorted out in a paragraph, which is simple and complicated, and can only be done by a master.

Why do Coppola have so many relevant details?

After all, I think he is telling a story.

Tell stories, abandon redundant technical means and tell stories in a down-to-earth manner. "Good is also studious and technologically advanced."

This simplicity should also be one of the qualities pursued by the epic.

The story begins with Bonasera asking the godfather Corleone for help. From the close-up of his monologue, the camera slowly receded and the godfather's back appeared. He waved to the people around him and asked them to give a glass of wine to the angry Bonasala. A very calm opening. At first I thought it was just a simple zoom lens. Later, I heard that Coppola mentioned in the commentary track that it was the effect of post-processing, only to remember that the film was born in the early 70 s.

This line is quite wonderful. The highlight first lies in the form, which Coppola also specifically mentioned in the commentary track. He said it was specially added when he wrote the script according to other people's suggestions, and he deliberately imitated General Barton who won the Oscar for Best Screenplay. The film begins with Barton's long speech under the American flag.

Content, this paragraph also contains a wealth of pictures. First of all, the background of the Corleone family, the rule maker outside the law, a rule that pursues fairness, the family position: the identity of the maker and the executor as one. It points out that this story, or the people it tells, depends on two things: one is rules, the other is fairness; This is also Corleone's principle of settling down, and the conflict after the story is contained in the contradiction formed by these two principles. Secondly, it explains a comparative element contained in the theme of the story, the American dream. An immigrant realized his American dream, only to find that everything was not as beautiful as he imagined. He must go back to the world he abandoned to find comfort. The existence of this element also constitutes an extremely important reference in the relationship between Corleone and Mike.

In the subsequent conversation, Corleone changed from refusing to accepting, and he completely controlled each other. In addition to getting back what he wants (respect instead of money), he also included revenge in the category of self-fairness. It also reveals another extremely important element in the story: business. This is a deal made with the skill of a businessman. The subtlety lies in Corleone's success in obtaining the maximum benefit for himself under the limited premise.

This restriction is accomplished in two parts. First, it is explained in the dialogue that this is Corleone's daughter's wedding day, and then through the mouth of Corleone's adopted son Tom, it is explained that sicilian will not refuse any request on her daughter's wedding day. Therefore, on this special day, Corleone will unconditionally agree to all requests for help, including Bonasera, but even in such a passive situation, he can still get what he wants, which shows his skill. During the whole paragraph, Corleone met four people in turn, and all three asked for help except one who thanked him. Through his different attitudes towards these four people and different handling and arrangements for asking for help, his image is vividly on the paper.

This passage depicts Corleone in detail, and in the following story, through his experience, it expresses the tragedy contained in the story: "Wang" is getting older, his deterrent is weakening, and the principle he adheres to is no longer everyone's criterion; Spread it, an era begins to disappear quietly; In this context, in this era full of turning points, it is closely related to the rise and fall history of a family. Some people went to the front desk, while others died sadly, or died of old age or violent death. This is the root of the deep charm of The Godfather, not only a gangster, but also a family history spanning several generations.

Thus, the story becomes a cross-narrative. On the one hand, Corleone receives all kinds of people who ask for help indoors, on the other hand, there is a lively wedding scene on the exterior. The light in the two scenes is obviously compared, and Coppola in the commentary track also confirms this treatment; He also specifically mentioned several goof shots. In fact, as long as we pay attention to the light used for comparison in two scenes and its direction, it will be easy to find bugs in one shot, while the other shot can be explained by the plot content.

Pay attention to the different appearances of the characters in these two different scenes, their position and their relationship with Corleone, their position in the family and their position in the story. For example, as a family lawyer (strategist), Tom and Corleone's eldest son Sonny appeared in the first scene with Corleone. Another son, Fredo, appeared in the family photo. At first, he was not photographed alone, which showed that he was on the edge of the family business.

Let's take a detailed look at how Coppola expressed the image and character of Corleone's three biological sons.

First of all, Sonny plays an important role in the family business. He and Corleone appeared at the same time, together in the photo; After the photo shoot, they received another gangster, bassini and Corleone. In this shot, Corleone and bassini occupy the center of the picture, and Sonny is in the background but facing the camera; Then he flirted with the woman in the straw hat, and then talked to his wife, who expressed her dissatisfaction. Then he took two people to the yard, where the FBI was copying the guest's license plate. He is extremely dissatisfied and helpless. He spat on the spy's papers to vent his anger. When he returned to the house, he grabbed a paparazzi camera and threw it on the ground, then dropped some bills. Then he took time to have an affair with a woman in a straw hat on the second floor; When he came to Corleone again, he was scolded by his father about his family and his wife. This is also Corleone's most important relationship.

Followed by Fredo, who first appeared in the family photo, but was on the edge of the picture; Later, when his father met bassini, he appeared on the edge of the picture, with his back to the camera; It was not until Mike appeared that he appeared once, occupying the center of the picture for the first time and emphasizing his relationship with Mike for the first time. His attitude towards Mike's girlfriend also revealed some of his character.

Finally, Mike, the number one in the whole story. His appearance is different from others, and Coppola uses a restrained approach. First of all, during the family photo shoot, Corleone refused to take pictures because he didn't show up; The conversation between Tom and Sonny shows that Mike and them have different positions in his father's mind. Then he officially appeared and came in with his girlfriend Kay. Corleone was looking out of the window. Mike and Kay are sitting on one side. Their conversation involved Luca and Johnny successively. At this time, Mike talked about their relationship with their families and their families with a slightly contemptuous attitude. On the way, Tom and Fredo came to hug and say hello to Mike. In this play, Mike's character is not particularly portrayed, but he is first placed in a bystander position, in contrast to Sonny's importance and Fredo's marginalization.

In the Corleone family, apart from the above three people, the most important role is adopted son Tom. This is reflected in his playing time, participation times, interaction with Corleone, Mike's profile and detailed characterization. Spread out, the roles are Corleone's wife, daughter and son-in-law. They all have more shots to explain, but there is no detailed description. This kind of treatment is also under consideration, because they will exist in the story for a long time, there is a lot of room to shape them, and there is no need to focus on the opening part.

In Gangster, two other important figures, the chubby Clemenza and the thin Tessio, also got as many shots and paid attention to characterization, which contrasted with their responsibilities and behaviors in later stories and echoed Corleone's understanding of them. Further away, Clemenza's man, Paulie, not only has a separate confession scene, but also has a simple image. Another important role is Luca, who came to thank Corleone. He got more shots and repeated the same conversation many times to reveal the characteristics of this character. Mike's story about Kay Luca is a clever foreshadowing. He told the story of Corleone's solution to the problem, thus giving the audience a fixed impression. But after Tom's solution to Johnny's problem was blocked, he used a very different method. Differentiation further demonstrated Corleone's strength and brought a strong emotional impact to the audience.

Besides these two circles, there are two other circles. The characters in the first circle are mainly people who ask the godfather for help, such as Bonasera, the funeral home owner, Johnny, the singer and the baker. This relationship circle is used to compare Corleone's godfather image with his principle of doing things: there are no absolute enemies, only friends, only business. The last circle of relations is Corleone's social forces and relations with political figures. These characters didn't appear, but they were completely shown from the side. First, the non-local councillors mentioned when solving the problem of the cake maker; Second, the members and judges mentioned by Tom when he read the congratulatory letter. This relationship circle has a wider social influence, which is in sharp contrast with the previous relationship circle, and it is also an extremely important reference in the relationship between Corleone and Mike.

In this film, Coppola pays special attention to the repetition of scenes. For example, figures such as Paulie and photographer are in a dispensable position in the relationship between characters, but Coppola cleverly gives them important roles. For example, in the following plot, when Corleone was assassinated, Paulie appeared many times; The photographer only appeared twice, but he set off the image of bassini. When he didn't want to shoot a table of people in bassini, bassini asked his men to take his negative and tear it up, which revealed that bassini was a cautious and reserved person. He knew that he was a photographer hired by the Corleone family, so he didn't take any further or malicious action, which was in sharp contrast to Sonny's action when he treated the paparazzi. Even the cake maker who is completely subordinate to curry coffee echoed the scene, injecting a rare sense of humor into the story. Bonasera, who appeared at the beginning, appeared again when the story changed scenes. As an important witness of the rise and fall of the Corleone family, she became an important footnote of the story fatalism.

In this passage, the setting of story structure, the appearance of relevant characters and the construction of image have been successfully completed, and the final task is to lay a clue for the subsequent plot. Compared with the details of the first two, Coppola handled the task with ease. In the last part of this paragraph, after Johnny asked for help to leave, Corleone asked Tom if there was anything unfinished. Tom told him about the meeting with Sollozzo. Corleone said he would discuss it when he came back from California. Tom was surprised that he had never made this trip. Corleone said he would let him solve Johnny's problems.

The repetition of "three" here can show the greatest effect with the least number of times. In response to different guests' requests for help, Corleone arranged corresponding people to deal with the different nature of the incident. Here, Tom was arranged to deal with Johnny personally, which showed his trust in Tom's ability and his emphasis on Johnny as a godson. At this point, all the tasks of the prelude have been completed, and this section will naturally come to an end.

The last photo is a metaphor, representing the last glorious moment of the family led by "King Corleone" and the starting point of the family's decline.

Back to the opening topic, technology is not useless, photographer Gordon? Williams also contributed a lot to the play, especially the low-key lighting.

But interestingly, according to the information I have read, Coppola was still a small role when filming The Godfather, and it was because he was able to shoot at a lower cost that he got the director opportunity. He was not keen on the story at first, but only because of financial difficulties, he was persuaded by Lucas to accept the job. When the original novel was unexpectedly sold, the godfather also got Paramount's attention, and Coppola became the most insignificant role. He said that he was facing the fate of being replaced at any time, and the most likely successor was Ilya? Kazan, he is considered to be good at dealing with the most difficult Malone? Ironically, Brando's most suitable candidate strongly recommended Marlon? Brando played the godfather by Coppola himself. In this case, it is said that everyone on the crew doesn't care much about Coppola, including Gordon? Williams.

Paramount's plan to shoot the wedding is only two days, and Coppola can't buy more time, so he can only simplify it. There are too many regrets in this scene. This is a movie. Once printed, there is no way to change it. Maybe this is the charm of regret. But this does not affect the super charm of this scene at all. The only reason is that the right person did the right thing at the right time.

About this film, two other names must be mentioned, the original author Mario? Puzuo, who rewrote the script with Coppola, is also Coppola's staunchest supporter. The other man is Robert? Later, Tang, who was invited by Paramount to rewrite the script, gave him several wonderful opponents in the film. This man, it is said, can't control the structure, but he has an unparalleled talent for controlling the details.